Naturalness and Iconicity in Language

Naturalness and Iconicity in Language PDF Author: Klaas Willems
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027243433
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume examines unresolved issues in iconicity and naturalness in language. The studies discuss topics such as naturalism in the philosophy of language and the epistemology of linguistics, linguistic iconicity in semiotics, iconic structures in Sign Languages, natural and unnatural sound patterns, the iconic nature of parts of speech, the relation between (un)markedness and naturalness, and lexical and syntactic iconicity.

Sibawayhi's Principles

Sibawayhi's Principles PDF Author: Michael G. Carter
Publisher: Lockwood Press
ISBN: 1937040593
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 287

Get Book Here

Book Description
Michael G. Carter's Sibawyhi's Principles: Arabic Grammar and Law in Early Islamic Thought is a corrected version, with considerable Addenda, of his 1968 Oxford doctoral thesis, "Sibawayhi's Principles of Grammatical Analysis." It systematically argues that the science of Arabic grammar owes its origins to a special application of a set of methods and criteria developed independently to form the Islamic legal system, not to Greek or other foreign influence. These methods and criteria were then adapted to create a grammatical system brought to perfection by Sibawayhi in the late second/eighth century. It describes the intimate contacts between early jurists and scholars of language out of which the new science of grammar evolved, and makes detailed comparisons between the technical terms of law and grammar to show how the vocabulary of the law was applied to the speech of the Arabs. It also sheds light on Sibawayhi's method in producing his magisterial Kitab.

The Early Islamic Grammatical Tradition

The Early Islamic Grammatical Tradition PDF Author: Ramzi Baalbaki
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135189126X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Get Book Here

Book Description
The last decades have witnessed a major resurgence of interest in the Arabic grammatical tradition. Many of the issues on which previous scholarship focused - for example, foreign influences on the beginnings of grammatical activity, and the existence of grammatical "schools" - have been revisited, and new areas of research have been opened up, particularly in relation to terminology, the analytical methods of the grammarians, and the interrelatedness between grammar and other fields such as the study of the Qur'an, exegesis and logic. As a result, not only has the centrality of the Arabic grammatical tradition to Arab culture as a whole become an established fact, but also the fields of general and historical linguistics have finally come to realize the importance of Arabic grammar as one of the major linguistic traditions of the world. The sixteen studies included in this volume have been chosen to highlight the themes which occupy modern scholarship and the problems which face it; while the introductory essay analyses these themes within the wider context of early Islamic activity in philology as well as related areas of religious studies and philosophy.

Landmarks in Linguistic Thought Volume III

Landmarks in Linguistic Thought Volume III PDF Author: Kees Versteegh
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134727828
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
Landmarks in Linguistic Thought Vol 3 is devoted to a linguistic tradition that lies outside the Western mainstream, namely that of the Middle East. The reader is introduced to the major issues and themes that have determined the development of the Arabic linguistic tradition. Each chapter contains a short extract from a translated `landmark' text followed by a commentary which places the text in its social and intellectual context. The chosen texts frequently offer scope for comparison with the Western tradition. By contrasting the two systems, the Western and the Middle Eastern, this book serves to highlight the characteristics of two very different systems and thus stimulate new ideas about the history of linguistics. This book presumes no prior knowledge of Arabo-Islamic culture and Arabic language, and is invaluable to anyone with an interest in the History of Linguistics. Kees Versteegh is currently Professor of Arabic and Islam at the Middle East Institute of the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. His publications include The Explanation of Linguistic Causes (1995),Ed. Arabic Outside the Arab World (1994)

The “Broken” Plural Problem in Arabic and Comparative Semitic

The “Broken” Plural Problem in Arabic and Comparative Semitic PDF Author: Robert R. Ratcliffe
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027275645
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 275

Get Book Here

Book Description
The formal aspects of non-concatenative morphology have received considerable attention in recent years, but the diachronic dimensions of such systems have been little explored. The current work applies a modern methodological and theoretical framework to a classic problem in Arabic and Semitic historical linguistics: the highly allomorphic system of ‘stem-internal’ or ‘broken’ plurals. It shows that widely-accepted views regarding the historical development of this system are untenable and offers a new hypothesis. The first chapter lays out a methodology for comparative-historical research in morphology. The next two chapters present an analysis of Arabic morphology based on contemporary formal linguistic approaches, and applies this analysis to the noun plural system. Chapter Four shows that neither semantic shift nor ablaut-type sound change account adequately for the data. The fifth chapter offers a systematic comparison of the plural systems of Semitic languages, incorporating much new research on the languages of South Arabia and Ethiopia. Chapter Six proposes a new reconstruction.

Medieval Islamic Civilization

Medieval Islamic Civilization PDF Author: Josef W. Meri
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135456038
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 980

Get Book Here

Book Description
Medieval Islamic Civilization examines the socio-cultural history of the regions where Islam took hold between the seventh and sixteenth century. This important two-volume work contains over 700 alphabetically arranged entries, contributed and signed by international scholars and experts in fields such as Arabic languages, Arabic literature, architecture, art history, history, history of science, Islamic arts, Islamic studies, Middle Eastern studies, Near Eastern studies, politics, religion, Semitic studies, theology, and more. This reference provides an exhaustive and vivid portrait of Islamic civilization including the many scientific, artistic, and religious developments as well as all aspects of daily life and culture. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit www.routledge-ny.com/middleages/Islamic.

Landmarks in Linguistic Thought III

Landmarks in Linguistic Thought III PDF Author: C. H. M. Versteegh
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415140625
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Get Book Here

Book Description
First Published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Studies in the Linguistic Structure of Classical Arabic

Studies in the Linguistic Structure of Classical Arabic PDF Author: Kinberg
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047400488
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1997 Naphtali Kinberg died, one of the best specialists in Classical Arabic and the Arabic grammatical tradition. His main work, the index on Farrā’'s Ma‘ānī l-Qur’ān, which appeared in the Brill series Handbook of Oriental Studies (1996) will remain one of the most important reference tools for future research in this field. In this volume the editors have collected a number of articles in which Kinberg demonstrates his ability to combine modern linguistic insights with the theories of the Arab grammarians. The result is a series of detailed studies on such aspects of the structure of Arabic as conditional sentences, adverbial clauses, and the particles lākin and qad. These articles have been published before, sometimes in relatively inaccessible journals. They are now made available in a collective volume, and made accessible by an index that will facilitate using them in research on Arabic linguistics. This volume also contains an important study that was part of Kinberg's legacy, the edition and translation of a treatise on the pronunciation of the ḍād by the grammarian ‘Alī al-Mansūrī (12th/18th century). This treatise is an important document on a hitherto neglected aspect of Arabic phonetic studies. It discusses the phonetic status of the sound that was regarded by the Arabs themselves as the most characteristic sound of their language.

Linguistics

Linguistics PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Linguistics
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Arabic Language

The Arabic Language PDF Author: C. H. M. Versteegh
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231111522
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Get Book Here

Book Description
This general introduction to the Arabic Language, now available in paperback, places special emphasis on the history and variation of the language. Concentrating on the difference between the two types of Arabic - the Classical standard language and the dialects - Kees Versteegh charts the history and development of the Arabic language from the earliest beginnings to modern times. The reader is offered a solid grounding in the structure of the language, its historical context and its use in various literary and non-literary genres, as well as an understanding of the role of Arabic as a cultural, religious and political world language. Intended as an introductory guide for students of Arabic, it will also be a useful tool for discussions both from a historical linguistic and from a socio-linguistic perspective. Coverage includes all aspects of the history of Arabic, the Arabic linguistic tradition, Arabic dialects and Arabic as a world language. Links are made between linguistic history and cultural history, while the author emphasises the role of contacts between Arabic and other languages. This important book will be an ideal text for all those wishing to acquire an understanding or develop their knowledge of the Arabic language.